5,600 iPhones are stolen every month in London

THE LONDON Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) has revealed that London sees an average of 5,600 iPhone thefts each month, with 7,000 handsets pinched in total.

The MPS announced the launch of a 'Love your Phone' campaign in London on Thursday, which involves targeting theft hotspots with more patrols and increased theft awareness to help curb mobile phone robberies.

The police service revealed that an average of 7,000 phones are stolen in the capital city each month, with 70 percent of all thefts in London involving a mobile phone device. Perhaps most surprisingly, the MPS said that 80 percent of stolen phones are iPhones, despite Apple's onboard security features such as its Find My iPhone application.

Metropolitan Police commander Christine Jones said, "The 'Love your Phone' campaign will hopefully remind everyone that there are simple steps we can all take to reduce this type of crime.

"The way we interact with our smartphones has changed. We now involve them in our social encounters through the increased use of social media. We use them to 'check ourselves in' at a location, take a photo, or by looking something up as a result of the conversation. Therefore we tend to keep our phones in our hand or left on the table for quick access.

"People are naturally distracted in busy environments, such as cafés, bars and pubs, so we are working with the owners, giving crime prevention advice and information about local criminals to help them keep their customers safe and keep the thieves out."